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Session 2793

Developing an Outcomes Assessment Survey for Seniors, Alumni and Managers/Supervisors Robert J. Gustafson, John A. Merrill The Ohio State University

I. Introduction

During the 1998-99 Academic year the Outcomes Assessment Committee (OAC) for Undergraduate Engineering Programs at The Ohio State University developed a Programs Outcomes Assessment Model. In the model, collection of data from constituents (e.g. current students, alumni, and employers) is important to both the Program Educational Objectives System (long-term) and the Programs Outcomes System (short-term). The OAC developed a series of surveys to seek data on the perceived importance of outcomes and objectives established for our current engineering programs and assess how well each program is doing relative to its objectives. The surveys are intended to be an integral part of the data collected for program outcomes assessment including items directly relevant to the ABET EC2000 criteria. However, the results must be combined with other outcomes assessment information collected by the College and its programs to support a plan of action for continuous improvement at each level.

This paper will briefly outline the process for survey development, the components of the survey and then summarize the data from the first year of use. Generally the data in this report is an aggregate over all programs of the College. Since differences in responses between programs can exist and programs have additional inputs from other sources, this information needs to be used carefully by each program as part of their on-going outcomes assessment and continuous quality improvement. In some cases observations about the data will be included to enhance understanding. Recommendations for future survey development and follow-up are being developed by OAC and the individual programs.

2. Selection of Survey Groups

The OAC decided to focus on three groups: 1) exiting seniors, 2) recent alumni, and 3) managers/supervisors of our alumni. Alumni two and six years after graduation were selected with the idea that they would still have a connection to the programs as currently offered. In our assessment model, employers were a significant constituent group. In the Committee’s opinion, Supervisors and Managers for our recent alumni would be in a position to comment on both the importance of an outcome/objective to engineering practice and the ability/preparation of our recent graduates. On a trial basis and as a strategy to approach this supervisor group, the fifteenth year alumni of the College were selected as a population to represent managers and supervisors of the recent alumni.

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Gustafson, R. J., & Merrill, J. (2000, June), Developing An Outcomes Assessment Survey For Seniors, Alumni And Managers/Supervisors Paper presented at 2000 Annual Conference, St. Louis, Missouri. 10.18260/1-2--8283